Kirby Smart and Georgia may have lost the national championship game to Alabama last year, but they'll get another shot at the Tide in this year's SEC Championship Game. Jan 8, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart reacts in the 2018 CFP national championship college football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week, the Georgia Bulldogs announced that they had declined an invitation to visit United States President Joe Biden at the White House to celebrate their national championship this season. While Georgia’s statement indicated it was a scheduling issue, that didn’t stop some from speculating about political motives for the cancellation. But Georgie Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart shut that talk down.

This week, Kirby Smart sent a pretty clear message to Joe Biden about the situation, explaining that declining the invite was not politically motivated and that he thinks visiting the White House would have been a “great experience.” He called the team’s inability to attend the White House “a tough deal” explaining that “timeline-wise it didn’t work.”

“We didn’t have a date set, and we’ve got 700 kids at a football camp at our place June 6, 7, 8,” Smart said according to the Athens Banner-Herald. “It’s the number one time for recruiting for football coaches. You’ve got 600 to 700 kids coming to your campus, you can’t leave to go to the White House and have no one on your campus. So the time just didn’t work out. There was nothing political about it. I’ve been before. It’s very educational. It’s a great experience.”

Maybe if the Bulldogs win their third consecutive national title this upcoming season, then they’ll finally visit the White House.

[Athens Banner-Herald]